Public/private FOIA issues ariseA knotty freedom of information question surfaced during the past few days, and it touches on a subject that needs a legislative review. That would be the issue of whether a private company providing services to a public agency is subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and, if so, to what extent. The subject came up when a Jonesboro Sun reporter on Friday asked Chad Niell, chief executive officer of Tiger Correctional Services, to ...

Glitches overshadow health care rolloutAfter several years of debate, planning and tweaking of the Affordable Care Act, the main component is finally here. Enrollment into the health care exchanges has hardly been a booming success as proponents predicted. Instead, the launch has been closer to the train wreck predicted by opponents. The biggest embarrassment for the rollout has been the numerous problems with the website — HealthCare.gov — which was billed as the simplest way for ...

Poll equally grim for GOP, DemocratsLITTLE ROCK — A two-term Democratic senator sees a drop in his approval numbers as he gears up for re-election, an increasing number of voters say they’re worried the state is headed in the wrong direction and more of them are blaming Democrats than Republicans for the federal government shutdown. Time for Arkansas Republicans to pop open the champagne and celebrate, right? Not so fast. The latest figures from the University of Arkansas’ annua...

Explaining commonomicsOne of my favorite magazines is YES!, a national publication striving to, as they explain it, “reframe the biggest problems of our time in terms of their solutions.” In both their online and print publications they provide inspiring stories of everyday people who are engaged in citizen engagement from the bottom up. Most of the stories in the magazine aren’t about politicians or large non-profits or philanthropists — the societal roles we ofte...

by
Meredith Martin-MoatsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

How Pope County taxes workUntil I became a member of the Quorum Court I never fully understood how Pope County’s taxes were collected and distributed. I thought I would share some of what I have learned in hopes of giving the public a better basic understanding of county taxation. Pope County operates the vast majority of the county offices out of a general operating fund called County General which the Quorum Court presides over. The county derives its taxes from two ...

Simplifying governmentPaying taxes and renewing vehicle registrations is a necessary part of American life for most of us, but rarely an enjoyable one. Governments should do what they can to at least make the process as simple as possible for its citizens. This is often easier said than done. However, Arkansas has made great technological strides in recent years to simplify both of these obligations. Not long ago, our Department of Finance and Administration was pr...

Ice cream’s Ben: Make money, differenceIf you see a dollar bill stamped in red with the words, “Not to be used for bribing politicians,” there’s a chance it was marked by a famous ice cream maker while he was visiting Arkansas. Ben Cohen, the “Ben” of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, stamped bills at Little Rock’s River Market Oct. 22 to promote StampStampede, which aims to build popular support to amend the Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. That’s th...

Poll equally grim for GOP, DemsLITTLE ROCK (AP) — A two-term Democratic senator sees a drop in his approval numbers as he gears up for re-election, an increasing number of voters say they're worried the state is headed in the wrong direction and more of them are blaming Democrats than Republicans for the federal government shutdown. Time for Arkansas Republicans to pop open the champagne and celebrate, right? Not so fast. The latest figures from the University of Arkansas' ...

Race-hustling results, againOne of the reasons for being glad to be as old as I am is that I may be spared living to see a race war in America. Race wars are often wars in which nobody wins and everybody ends up much worse off than they were before. Initial skirmishes in that race war have already begun, and have in fact been going on for some years. But public officials pretend that it is not happening, and the mainstream media seldom publish it at all, except in ways t...

Why civic clubs are decliningIn a June 2013 article in the Wall Street Journal, Niall Ferguson addresses the decline of American associational life. He quotes from a 1995 essay by Robert Pittman titled “Bowling Alone,” which documents the exodus of Americans from bowling leagues, Rotary Clubs and the like. Since then, the downward trend in “social capital” has only continued. According to the 2006 World Values Survey, active membership even in religious associations has d...

Race-hustling resultsBob Costas is one of the premier sportscasters and a very smart guy, so it was somewhat surprising to see him join the chorus of those decrying the fact that the owner of the Washington Redskins is resisting the pressures to change the name of his football team. The argument is that American Indians are offended by the name, though there is no compelling evidence that most American Indians are worked up about it. Nor is there any evidence that...

Griffin chooses home over HouseMonday of last week, U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., took the 8:55 a.m. flight from Little Rock to Washington, as usual. He hit the ground running that afternoon and didn’t stop much until he was on the plane headed back to Little Rock Thursday afternoon. He spent 30 minutes with his family and then headed to a fundraiser — mostly close friends, he said, who listened as he talked about the personal difficulties of serving in Congress. It was ni...

Dr. Politics rules on Ted CruzAsk Dr. Politics! You are fair, and we are unbalanced! Dear Dr. Politics: There is no sugarcoating it. The website has been working too slowly. I think it’s fair to say nobody is more upset than I am. Can you help the surge of the best and the brightest to fix the Obamacare site? Asking for a friend. Answer: First, is your Wi-Fi router on? A lot of people forget this. They also can’t remember where their Wi-Fi router is. Yours may be in the Si...

Rep. Griffin changes the political sceneArkansas politics is never boring. This week, Republican Congressman Tim Griffin of Little Rock surprised virtually everyone on Monday morning with an announcement that he will not seek a third term representing the 2nd Congressional District. “We have decided that now is the time for me to focus intently on my top priority, my family, as Elizabeth and I raise our two young children,” said Griffin in a prepared statement. “To that end, I will ...

Session sets stage for future fightsLITTLE ROCK — It took a little more than 33 hours for Arkansas lawmakers to breeze through a marathon special session called to address rising teacher health insurance rates. But the ongoing fights from the session may linger for years. From efforts to overhaul the teacher insurance program after legislators boosted its funding to potential challenges stemming from the failed effort to redistribute excess property tax revenues from some school...

University chancellor proposes administrative reorganizationEducational administrators, especially in colleges and universities, love to reorganize things. It gives them something to do and proves the value of their positions. Reorganization efforts usually mean two things: longer titles and a need for more administrators. With that in mind, it’s interesting to see an attempt to reduce the number of educational administrators on a university campus, at least at the top level. That’s one feature of a re...

Why bicycle lanes?By this spring, the city of Russellville will have completed, by new construction and repaving and restriping existing streets, a total of 12.2 miles of multimodal streets in our city (24.4 miles of bike lanes). The advantages of these facilities are well documented. One of the least appreciated or understood positives pertain to the national, and particularly southern, phenomenon of obesity. Increased biking obviously leads toward greater hea...

The cost of uncertainty: 900,000 jobsFirst, an admission: Journalists like to quote studies by experts, particularly if we agree with them, because they convey absolute truth about subjects that aren’t completely knowable. Then we cover ourselves by adding the words “allegedly” and “reportedly,” in case the expert is proven wrong. That out of the way, an economist reportedly has released a study with which I agree. “The Cost of Crisis-Driven Fiscal Policy,” prepared by Dr. Joel P...

Special sessionFor only the second time as governor, I called legislators to the State Capitol for a special session. These sessions are meant to be narrow in focus and efficient in decision-making. The primary issue this time concerns the health insurance of our teachers and other public-school employees. Arkansas’ Public School Employee Insurance Plan has been headed toward trouble for some time. However, these troubles have nothing to do with the Affordab...

Patriot shares his heartThere is a man who lives down on the bayou in South Louisiana whom I have come to really appreciate, admire and respect. He is someone who has the courage of his convictions and tells it like it is, and someone I believe is a true patriot. This man is someone I have told you about before — Dale Brown, former coach of the men’s basketball team at Louisiana State University. Dale sends me things he has written quite often and I have his blanket ...